


Redemption Isn't an Arc, It's a Line Moving Forward

by aurumdalseni (kyo_chan)



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Gen, Kimblee-centric, Redemption, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-24
Updated: 2018-01-24
Packaged: 2019-03-08 19:19:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13464834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyo_chan/pseuds/aurumdalseni
Summary: Zolf Kimblee doesn't expect to wake up. There are surprises waiting for him when he does, along with memories and challenges. Though there are some things that may come full circle, even he has to keep moving forward.





	Redemption Isn't an Arc, It's a Line Moving Forward

**Author's Note:**

> An FMA secret Santa gift for Morgrim Moon! I love Kimblee very much, so it was an absolute pleasure to write this! I hope you enjoy the read!

Zolf Kimblee honestly doesn't expect to wake up.

When he does, he's all alone. He recognizes the smell of antiseptic, spots a window off to the right of his bed with an old but cheery curtain waving in the breeze. The sheets around him are crisp, thought the tunic he wears is softer than any hospital attire he's ever worn. He doesn't think this is any sort of hospital he would choose for himself. It seems no one else has expected him to wake up as well. He can't turn his head; bandages are thick around his neck, and it's unsettling. It's even more unsettling when memories flood their way back into his mind, pushing like currents against one another, rippling and settling and stirring up again. A chimera tried to tear his throat out, a monster swallowed him whole, he reigned in a world of black, red and screaming and he had felt at home.

The Stone.

He squeezes his eyes shut, and he sleeps again.

~

Alphonse Elric is the first to find him. Zolf has done a terrible job of keeping track of the passage of time since he'd returned to the living world. All he's had to go on are the gentle smiles of the nurses telling him to rest and an elderly doctor who tells him every time that he's lucky to be alive, and he's on the mend. There had been no familiarity, nothing he could call his, his future a nebulous array of possibilities, all which seem out of reach. For he couldn't yet speak, and he can't fathom a scenario where he would be welcomed.

"Fancy meeting you here," the younger Elric brother tells him, and that's how he recognizes that it's Al. He wears a human face now, back in his rightful body instead of the suit of armor Kimblee remembers. In Zolf's mind, that makes him both more vulnerable and now one of the strongest alchemists he's known. He had the power to do the impossible -- save the world and himself. For that alone, he has Zolf's respect, whether he realizes it or not.

"I'm headed to Xing. The doctor tells me you'll be able to travel soon. It wouldn't hurt his highness to wait just a little longer for me.

Perplexed, Zolf listens, he waits for the words to be deceit.

He's proven wrong yet again.

~

The journey is a hard one, especially across the desert. Alphonse is good company, and a rather attentive caretaker. He doesn't mock the times when Zolf is unsteady on his feet, there is never a shortage of water when his mouth is parched. Al fills the space between them with friendly conversation, an update on the world since Promised Day. Zolf notes that he's careful not to reveal too much, surely he is also waiting for the rug to get pulled out from underneath him. There's probably still some part of him that expects Zolf to turn on him. Zolf can't entirely blame him, but his head is a lot clearer now that he's been removed from the homunculus, and the Stone has been removed from him. There's a lot he remembers, and there are some things still hidden in a red-tinged fog. He doesn't seek them out intentionally. Something tells him he'll remember eventually.

He wonders what possessed him to say yes to this trip. Maybe it was Alphonse's winsome smile, assurance that he won't be bored. Perhaps it's because it's the first door to open to him since he's 'rebirth', and it's a far better option than some of the things he suspects he deserves. It's perhaps some silly notion of redemption on Al's part, that by taking Kimblee with him, he can save the man he fought outside the slums. Considering that being consumed by a homunculus and swimming in a sea of tortured souls could be considered hell, he's gone there and back, and perhaps a little redemption would do him good.

By the time they reach Xing, they've crafted a small language among themselves, hand signals and gestures Al has come to recognize. Sometimes, Zolf forgets himself and tries to talk, the effort stinging and futile, and Al encourages him to continue, studying the movement of his mouth, even though nothing's coming out. He gets very good at reading Zolf's lips -- and sometimes, he swears, reading his mind.

~

The princess doesn't trust Zolf, but the Emperor tolerates him. He watches Alphonse train while he refreshes his Xingian on the scrolls laying about. He sometimes acknowledges that there is no looming deadline, no weight of a purpose hanging on his shoulders. He can't remember the last time he's studied, alchemy or language, with abandon like this. He loses himself in it sometimes, and then makes a face when Alphonse compares him to his brother. Al doesn't speak too much of Ed, though it's been made very clear that he, too, survived Promised Day and is carrying out some quest of his own. Perhaps on another end of the world, going about as if they looked the end of the world in the face and then came back out on the other side. Zolf has an infinite amount of respect for both of them. He wonders if Al can tell, perceptive as he is. They carried through their intentions with a sense of purpose Kimblee remembers having himself. Wrenching control of their lives back ever time it got taken from them, and determined not to back down. Above all, except maybe alchemy, Kimblee prized conviction, intelligence and sense of self. In retrospect, he'd lost the last of those things when he'd been in possession of the Stone, but each day he's free of it, he feels no desire to return to it, not for all the power in the world.

Alphonse learns how to heal with his alchemy, and one day, he uses it to repair as much of the damage to Kimblee's neck as possible.

Zolf's first words are, "Thank you."

~

No one knows what to say at first, when Zolf is at Al's side upon their return to Amestris. They are friends now, at least that's what Al says. Zolf knows he would destroy anything that threatened Alphonse now, and it's a fair bet that the sentiment was equivalent. That means that when Mustang is ready to fight -- reaching for his glove, even when they all know he doesn't have to -- Al is the first one to get between them and demand he listen. Zolf doesn't expect much, certainly not the opportunity to redeem himself, both in the eyes of the military and those he fought alongside in the war before the Stone granted him solitude at a good safe distance from his blast radius.

It's painful to acknowledge the death of Maes Hughes. The homunculi hadn't deemed that information important to him upon his release from prison, and he'd been too focused on his mission, his  _ purpose _ to even ask. Even if Al had talked about it in some of their late-night conversations in Xing, it feels more real back in Amestris. He can see the pain of it in Mustang's eyes, Zolf can practically feel his ghost like a lingering, smug shadow. Though Kimblee had never given the man the satisfaction of admitting they had been friends, Zolf considered him a foolish companion. Too kind for his own good, too stubborn to quit. A good man. A better man than Zolf will ever be, no matter how much his second chance offers him.

Hawkeye is eventually the one to take him to Hughes's grave. There are fresh flowers in front of it.

Kimblee mourns in silence.

~

When the Fullmetal Alchemist returns to Amestris, he's sun-freckled and his hair is longer. Like Alphonse, he's grown into strong shoulders and a square jawline, and while he seems to be more outwardly calm, one moment of holding his gaze tells him that the spark he remembers hasn't gone anywhere. It's less of a spark and more of a hearth ember. Zolf doubts he will ever lose that part of himself, even though he will learn that there are parts of him he has lost. When he finally discovers that Edward can no longer use his alchemy, Zolf is disappointed, but he tries not to think of it as potential lost, but rather potential redirected.

Just like Kimblee, Ed once more dons his blue and stars, and they both join the ranks of the man who would be Fuhrer. They're still rebuilding, they're still trying to to make up for all the damage Father and the homunculi wrought. Each of them is making amends for their own faults and mistakes and shortcomings as well. Fullmetal and Crimson become partners and go out into the field, hunting the trails of corrupted alchemists, picking up the pieces along the way. They talk, and they learn.

~

It's Saturday night, and Madame Christmas's bar is humming with people. Mustang and his team occupy a table at the very back, making just as much noise as they pass around drinks and deal out cards. It's the last place Zolf expects to find himself, perhaps because he hadn't thought himself one of them. Edward is very quick to shut down his loner tendencies and remind him he has an 'obligation' to be part of the team. So he sits with them, he exemplifies the definition of a poker face, and he drinks his whiskey between hands. It doesn't matter who wins; it's just the camaraderie, the assurance that the same people who fight at his side are the same ones who will be with him when no one is wearing blue.

Zolf Kimblee hadn't expected to wake up.

Now, more than ever, he lives.


End file.
